Hear from our Managing Director, Steve Nielsen, as we get going for the first Grand Prix of 2026.

As we prepare for the opening round of the 2026 season in Melbourne, I want to take this opportunity to thank every single member of the team for their dedication and hard work leading up to this point.

In one of the busiest off-seasons I can remember, we arrive in Australia after a monumental winter of long shifts and late nights.

In arguably the biggest regulation change in the history of F1, I’m proud of the work that everyone at Enstone has contributed to designing, creating and developing the A526. Not only have we had to create a new car for this set of regulations, we have also had to switch to a Mercedes-AMG power unit for this season and integrate with our new colleagues from Brixworth.

It has not been easy, and at times we have faced huge challenges. And I’ve no doubt those challenges will not go away as the development race continues throughout the year, but we’re ready to face them head-on.

Clocking up the mileage

The past couple of months have been unusual in Formula One terms, as we’ve had cars on track as early as January and ten days of testing across three different circuits. We ran the A526 for the first time at a very wet Silverstone, before the Barcelona shakedown and the two official pre-season tests in Bahrain.

We’ve completed over 1,000 laps in total and it has been a huge learning process to understand the various new systems on the car and adapt to new ways of working. As expected with a completely new car, there are always some issues, but we were able to get on top of them quickly and put measures in place to prevent any recurrence. Sometimes that can be the nature of testing and it’s important to see a positive reaction from the entire team, drivers included, in handling some of those setbacks.

The feedback and input of the drivers has been vital to our learning about the new car, which now has a host of tools for them to use, such as Boost Mode, Overtake Mode and active aerodynamics. There has been a lot for them to understand, especially in terms of energy deployment and recovery, but with the on-track running and simulator time, we’re happy with what we’ve been able to achieve heading to Albert Park.

Start the stopwatch

Qualifying in Melbourne will be the first real indication of where we stand in the competitive order. Although everyone is looking at data and lap times from Bahrain, you never really know as you can only guess at what fuel loads and engine modes people are running. Ultimately, you only know your own and can only speculate about others.

Additionally, there will be developments and upgrades to all the cars across the season and, more than ever, energy management will vary from track to track. We know our team has put a lot of effort in, but equally we aren’t getting carried away and are realistic in our expectations. Our goal this coming season is to be more competitive and see a sustained recovery of performance, not just at the start of the year but across the entire year.

We have a reasonable package and a good baseline to work from and Pierre and Franco have done a great job in executing run plans and giving us plenty of data to assess, so credit to them for their continued efforts. They are both excited to go racing again, as am I, and the whole team, and we will head to Albert Park ready to give it our all and begin what will no doubt be a fascinating 2026 season.